Teach me what not to do and mistakes to avoid

B

brian45acp

New member
Joined
Apr 9, 2012
Messages
90
Reaction score
0
So being new to machines used on my cars I want to hear the things I should never do and mistakes others made so I can learn from them.

What I want to know is if its possible to burn the paint off anywhere on my truck/car using the PC incorrectly? The products I am using are safe and the strongest color pad I will use is orange so no issues there.

Things that concern me are edges of body lines and painted plastic bumpers etc. Is there any risk using the PC near these areas? In my mind I figure a convex surface body line will have a high point that the pad will ride on and it being so thin makes me think all the force would take the paint off. All the vids show Mike using the PC on flat hoods and door panels. What about all the door jam areas and high points in the body lines?

Please teach me something I dont know. :hungry:
 
Pc are the safest machine to use. There is a lot of technique you will need to learn but if you watch some of mikes vids I'm sure you will get the idea of how to do it.
 
the PC will stop rotating on raised edges/body lines unless you know how to work the machine to get rotation, when there is no rotation happening there is very little correction happening so its highly unlikely you will go through the clearcoat/paint film. you can however overheat some plastic bumpers(mainly repaints) if you are not using machine properly, do you need to worry about it? not really but it CAN happen but not likely if you are using proper polishing technique. mike phillips just uploaded some new videos if you havent seen them yet showing how to use PC on curves and such its a good video on how to maintain pad rotation. so dont stress yourself about ruining your paint, just focus on the task at hand and after a while you will think back and say to your self "what was i so worried about?" good luck!
 
opie_7afe said:
the PC will stop rotating on raised edges/body lines unless you know how to work the machine to get rotation, when there is no rotation happening there is very little correction happening so its highly unlikely you will go through the clearcoat/paint film. you can however overheat some plastic bumpers(mainly repaints) if you are not using machine properly, do you need to worry about it? not really but it CAN happen but not likely if you are using proper polishing technique. mike phillips just uploaded some new videos if you havent seen them yet showing how to use PC on curves and such its a good video on how to maintain pad rotation. so dont stress yourself about ruining your paint, just focus on the task at hand and after a while you will think back and say to your self "what was i so worried about?" good luck!
Click to expand...

Where, exactly, are Mike's 'new' videos with the PC located?
 
brian45acp said:
What I want to know is if its possible to burn the paint off anywhere on my truck/car using the PC incorrectly? The products I am using are safe and the strongest color pad I will use is orange so no issues there.
Please teach me something I dont know. :hungry:
Click to expand...

Long story short, the clutch built into the PC 7424XP will cause spindle rotation to cease with too much pressure. You can actually test this on your hand. If it won't harm your skin, it won't damage your paint. So the therory goes....

Oddly enough, fyi, too little pressure may not enable the spindle to rotate either.
 
Dude, you are way too uptight about this whole thing--you're making ME nervous! Where are you located, maybe there is a member nearby who will give you an hour of his time to calm you down.
 
LOL, I am in California. I live in Highland which is near San bernardino area.

I am just trying to be safe and I dont want to be coming back here wishing I knew something I didnt after learning the hard way. I saw pics of a guy who had 20 yrs experience who krinkled the paint edge on a plastic bumper. This is why I am asking these things. I also just read about a guy with the Flex who was able to cook his paint while practicing on an old spot which was going to get repainted anyway.

I questioned on if i should have bought the Flex but perhaps based on what you guys are telling me the PC is most newbie friendly. A guy I shoot competition with apparently had a detail business some time ago I just learned so I will be calling him up today and ask some questions.
 
Well, google maps tells me you're not that far from Irvine, why don't you take a ride down to a Meguiar's Thursday Night Open Garage or one of the Saturday detailing classes that Mike used to teach, you can get some hands-on and watch other people use the machines.
 
Didnt know anything about it. Thanks for the info and any more you can offer.

I honestly think I am ready to go for it but not until next week because my order wont make it here until next Wed. I will start on my daily driver Corolla that I dont care about and learn technique before touching my Platinum Tundra.
 
meguiarsonline.com has all the open garage info you need. and detail dude i dont have a link handy but go to autogeek youtube, click on their videos and sort from newest to oldest.
 
Been watching some vids of Mike's and have some questions.

Since my truck is brand new and just has some dealer induced broom wash scratches in the CC I figured I dont need aggressive techs to remove them. Would this then imply that maybe a LC white pad with swirl remover product be a better choice then an Orange pad? My plan was to start orange then step down to white for my AIO product then gray for my non abrasive product and finish with blue for the last step shine product. I am thinking about knocking out the orange as the first step and starting with white. Perhaps I will do a test area and find out if this is a good idea or not but thought I should ask so that I can have the right thinking process here.

Also I spent some time before my PC gets here going at tight areas by hand just using the regular white cotton hand held applicators. I was able to remove the scratches on my door sills and pillar areas which are pretty small for a 5.5 pad. Is it possible to still use the PC with a 5.5 on those smaller 3-4 inch wide areas or is it dangerous in some way I dont know about? I see vids of Mike using a 3 inch BP and pads but I dont want to go there just yet and have no issues doing the tight areas by hand as needed. In my mind I figure I can still safely get most of the 5.5 pad on the area I need to work but am not aware of any dangers this might cause.

I also noticed that I should clean my pads often but am not entirely sure what this means. I am going to do Mike's "on the fly" method but do I do this after each 2x2 section or after each panel?
 
My advice is take some extra time and tape your plastic trim! nothing worse than getting done and stepping back to admire your work and finding polsihing residue nicely stuck to your trim.
The pad cleaning doesn't have to been done after every section, the point of that is just to not let it become so gunked up that it can't properly work the abrasives in your polish in. You just have to watch your pad. Idealy it would be best if you could have several of each pad that way you don't have to worry as much about it.
in reguards to which pad and polish to start with, you are right to do the test spot and see what it will take to get the desired results.
I finally just broke down and bought a Griots Garage 3 inch polisher. Instead of having to change out backing plates. It may be more of a convenience but I didn't feel safe in some areas polishing with a 5.5 in certain areas and I didn't want to do it by hand.
 
The product I am using doesnt seem to muck up the plastic trim. I spent all the time taping off the trim and came back to find the tape sagging off because it wouldnt stick to certain rubber type door and window seals. This was when I was applying product by hand and it took a longggg time to tape off all that just to realize it didnt work as planned, lol.

I bought about 3-4 pads of each color so as one starts to get used up I will change it out. I also bought the DP pad rejuvinator to wash them in.

I will do as you say and start with an area I know to have scratches then go at it with a white pad and swirl remover first. Explain to me how the pad makes the product more abrasive vs another pad that doesnt? What is it about the pads that pushes the results like that?

Oh and because I have been reading about plastic painted bumpers possibly being an issue with paint wrinkle I decided to hit all those areas by hand. What do you guys think about painted plastic areas like bumpers and using a PC?
 
This will not only help you if you're looking for machine help but will also help with detailing in general get Mike Phillips book The Art of Detailing it's a great read packed full of information.
 
I ordered his DVD about using the PC which I hope will be good. It will be here along with the PC tomorrow.

I am thinking of starting on my daily driver car to practice but really just want to get started on my truck. I cant decide what I want to do but for a first time maybe going at the car I dont care about is a better idea.
 
brian45acp said:
The product I am using doesnt seem to muck up the plastic trim. I spent all the time taping off the trim and came back to find the tape sagging off because it wouldnt stick to certain rubber type door and window seals. This was when I was applying product by hand and it took a longggg time to tape off all that just to realize it didnt work as planned, lol.

I bought about 3-4 pads of each color so as one starts to get used up I will change it out. I also bought the DP pad rejuvinator to wash them in.

I will do as you say and start with an area I know to have scratches then go at it with a white pad and swirl remover first. Explain to me how the pad makes the product more abrasive vs another pad that doesnt? What is it about the pads that pushes the results like that?

Oh and because I have been reading about plastic painted bumpers possibly being an issue with paint wrinkle I decided to hit all those areas by hand. What do you guys think about painted plastic areas like bumpers and using a PC?
Click to expand...

The products abrasivness is what it is, i believe it's the coarseness of the foam that makes the difference. If you used the same compound with a white pad vs a yellow , you would get more cut from the yellow. And as far as painted plastic bumpers I've never had a problem but know some that have if the area was repaintes or when using a rotary.
 
I just got my PC in today along with the PC How To video by Mike. I noticed that he didnt run the PC up to the edge of the hood during his example. Does that mean anything or is just an example and that is all? I am just wondering if I am not suppose to get the pad near body edges.

Also in the video Mike was saying to start with the least abrasive method first. Even though my truck is brand new I have clear coat scratches from the dealer broom. I know that is what they are because they are all in a straight line and not swirls. I used my swirl removing product by hand on a cotton pad and with a lot of work was able to remove small tight areas by hand. I doubt that my AIO product with mild abrasives would do the job but do you guys think I should give that a try or just correct the car now and then go to the AIO as a polish then finish off with the wax product?

Just for a run down this is what I came up with:

Swirl remover= Orange pad
AIO= white pad
Wax= black pad
Sealer= blue pad
 
brian45acp said:
I just got my PC in today along with the PC How To video by Mike. I noticed that he didnt run the PC up to the edge of the hood during his example. Does that mean anything or is just an example and that is all? I am just wondering if I am not suppose to get the pad near body edges.

Also in the video Mike was saying to start with the least abrasive method first. Even though my truck is brand new I have clear coat scratches from the dealer broom. I know that is what they are because they are all in a straight line and not swirls. I used my swirl removing product by hand on a cotton pad and with a lot of work was able to remove small tight areas by hand. I doubt that my AIO product with mild abrasives would do the job but do you guys think I should give that a try or just correct the car now and then go to the AIO as a polish then finish off with the wax product?

Just for a run down this is what I came up with:

Swirl remover= Orange pad
AIO= white pad
Wax= black pad
Sealer= blue pad
Click to expand...

U want sealer first then top it off with a wax if desired.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top